Universe of Platonic Thought 2022

31st International Conference “The Universe of Platonic Thought: Plato’s Dialectics: Method, Norm, Self-Knowledge”

Fedor Evlampiev; Saint Petersburg State University (Saint Petersburg, Russia), Student

The state as spiritual aricstocracy in Plato's and Fichte's filosophies

Exploring the essence of the state, Plato proceeded from the fact that it should be ordered in such a way that each person occupies a place in it corresponding to his essence. Philosophers should be at the very top, because they know the truth through the contemplation of ideas, allowing them to rule properly. He believes that this connection with the world of truth is the main quality of a ruler, the only criterion by which a person should be selected into this special group, which can be called the "spiritual aristocracy". By this he emphasizes the spiritual character of the state. At the same time, he attaches great importance to the personality of rulers, since it is with the degradation of their essence and the essence of man in general that leads the state down the path of decay from timocracy to tyranny. Of the thinkers of a later time, the closest in this respect to Plato is Fichte, who in the "Basic Features of the modern era" says that people should be at the head of states, in which the idea of the genus, which represents the spiritual unity of all people, is most pronounced. At the same time, like Plato, he places special emphasis on the role of personality, since the idea does not work in the world apart from it. Fichte even argues that any form of government is acceptable as long as it gives power to people of the spirit.

Keywords: state, spiritual aristocracy, Plato, Fichte

F.I. Evlampiev
The State as a Spiritual Aristocracy in the Philosophy of Plato and I.G. Fichte

Plato the first philosopher to study the essence, or, in Platonic terms, the idea of the state, to which he devoted a special dialogue. The problem of the state arises in Plato in connection with the study of the essence of justice, which, as he believes, is easier to understand by the example of the state as a global version of the realization of the idea of justice than by the example of private relations. Justice ensures order in the state, which should be divided into groups, each of which is engaged in its own business – what corresponds to the nature of the people belonging to it.Those who should rule the state are called philosopher-kings, i. e. people who were able to go beyond the world and contemplate ideas, and then returned back. Since only ideas are thrue reality, then without their knowledge, the correct management of the state is impossible, and it will cease to correspond to its idea, taking the path of degradation. This degradation begins because of the violation of the order of the state, as a result of which the rulers' estate gradually loses its spiritual "purity", the appearance of people in it who do not correspond to it in abilities. It is the degradation of the essence of man that Plato considers the cause of the disintegration of the state – so tyranny becomes possible only after the emergence of the "tyrannical man" himself and his spread in the state. Thus, Plato defends the need for the existence of what can be called a "spiritual aristocracy" – a group of people connected with spiritual reality and through this connection organizing social life and the life of each individual so that he can develop, if possible, a connection with spiritual reality. For Plato, the state is primarily a metaphysical, spiritual phenomenon, which he opposes to the so–called "pig state", described by him in the dialogue "The State" and based purely on material relations and not going beyond them.
In the New European philosophy, we find a direct development of this concept in the late philosophy of I.G. Fichte in his course of lectures "The main features of the modern era", where it is part of his philosophy of history. He points out that the state is not a purely economic entity that cares only about the physical preservation of individuals. The state is an education that is created by people to fulfill the purpose of the human race in general. According to Fichte, it is the idea that is the true reality, and all people are its manifestations. At the same time, the idea manifests itself in people with different strengths, and here Fichte speaks of the importance of the individual as the acting force driving history. The idea is embodied in great personalities, so that the genus can achieve its goals in the world. At the same time, Fichte, unlike Plato, says that any form of government is acceptable as long as they lead to the achievement of the goal of the genus, i.e. to the establishment of relations in the world in accordance with reason. This is what his description of the process of the emergence of world states tells us, which Fichte associates with the activities of representatives of the "normal people", who, having a connection with the idea, brought culture to barbarians, which is the main form of manifestation of the idea in the world. Fichte calls the state itself the "kingdom of culture", arguing that art and religion are its main phenomena, that represent the highest goal of humanity.
Thus, Fichte and Plato agree that the state should be governed by a special group of people of the spirit – a kind of "spiritual aristocracy" – who, knowing the truth that lies in the ideal sphere, will be able to direct the state in the right direction. At the same time, Fichte has a motive that Plato does not have for creating a "kingdom of culture" as a kind of empire of the spirit on earth.